10 Can’t-Miss Pintxos Bars in San Sebastian, Spain

The Basque region epitomizes the two extremes of Spain’s culinary spectrum: pricey three-star Michelin restaurants, such as Akelare and Arzak, and humble holes-in-the-wall. Here, we're celebrating the latter, with San Sebastian's best bars for "pintxos," the local word for small bar bites otherwise known as tapas.

Snacks at this Old Town hang emphasize the classic preparation of well-chosen ingredients. On any given night, you might sample seared sirloin atop a slice of toasted baguette, a trio of braised beef cheeks smothered in rich brown gravy, or a skewer of grilled baby squid dressed in sauce of its own ink. Trust your eyes and pick up whatever looks best; no matter what you choose, you’ll develop an excellent baseline for what pintxos should be.

Chefs Iñaki Gulín and Marc Clua capture the charm of Old World Spain as they lead the charge in modern Basque cuisine. Available pintxos are listed on the chalkboard each night, and everything is cooked to order. The more straightforward dishes tend toward rustic preparations (fragrant mushroom risotto, veal cheeks braised in red wine), while creative spins on traditional local ingredients include salted cod (bacalao) in taco form. Make this your first stop if you want to ensure your pick of options; popular items, such as the veal cheeks, sell out early.

Most famous of the Old Town bar’s pintxos, la hoguera (the bonfire), is a shallow ramekin filled with a smoking rosemary twig and covered by a Lilliputian grill topped with a thin slice of cod. Guests may choose to let the fish linger as long or as briefly as fits their taste before chasing it with a caramelized-onion-and-parsley crostini and a vial of creamy asparagus soup. The colorful bounty lining the bar could easily be overwhelming, but rest assured that there are truly no subpar picks among the offerings.

Before Gulín opened Borda Berri, he earned accolades at this off-the-beaten-path bar. Contrary to the pintxos tradition, La Cuchara doesn’t openly display its dishes; rather, guests order selections from a board on the wall. Look for the slow-roasted suckling pig from Segovia—fork tender beneath its crispy skin—and rich duck confit with a drizzle of creamy tzaziki. Another noteworthy dish is the bar’s interpretation of risotto, made with orzo pasta instead of the classic arborio rice.

While many of its progressive neighbors take care to honor the region’s culinary history in at least some small way, this new-school pintxos bar (whose name means “to black fire”) goes full-throttle modern with just an occasional playful hat-tip to Basque fare. The menu features several nods to American food, including its signature “makcobe” slider elevated with Wagyu beef, alongside dishes of squid-ink–tinted calamari and seaweed-olive rice. For dessert, request the “pear and kalimotxo,” which riffs on a popular low-brow Spanish cocktail of Coca-Cola and red wine.

It’s all too easy to nosh half a dozen plates of battered scampi without even realizing what’s happened at this jovial bar. Luckily, each one will only set you back about 2 euros. Indulge in a couple rounds, but don’t miss the montaditos—petite sandwiches made from mini baguettes and often filled with simple ingredients such as chorizo or anchovies. Paco Bueno is also a good spot to sample txakoli as the dry, effervescent Basque wine nicely cuts through the bar’s specialty prawns.

Ever thronged with locals and fellow travelers, Ganbara's bar is challenging to reach but worth the effort. Diners savor deceptively simple bites like the spider crab tartlet, blistered padrón peppers and pastry-wrapped sausage (txistorra in Basque). The most addictive are the sauteed mixed mushrooms (cèpes), which have earned praise from both casual eaters and noted chefs such as Ken Oringer, the chef-restaurateur behind Boston’s buzziest tapas bar, Toro.

Waiters scurry about this unassuming bar with such hustle you’d think they were chased by bulls. In reality, it’s just animated patrons clamoring for pintxos and cider. Seafood is one of the things Astelena does best, so kick off your order with crepes bursting with crab and langoustine. Even surf-and-turf is represented in its own way by slices of baguette crowned with jamón iberico, shrimp, and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

Two love-’em-or-hate-’em ingredients—anchovies and sardines—form the basis of many of this haunt’s most popular pintxos, but the toppings that accompany them are what's unexpected. Blueberry jam, aioli and papaya, and crab sauce (pictured) are just a few of the flourishes you might find atop the salty filets. Regardless, don’t leave without nabbing the Gilda, a more traditional (and perhaps widely palatable) emblematic pintxo of San Sebastian: anchovies with green olives and pickled peppers.

J.R. Elizondo’s innovative pintxos rival the masterpieces exhibited in Bilbao’s Guggenheim. Salted cod—a ubiquitous ingredient in these parts—is reinvented in two distinctive ways: Once as a light foam ornamented by a whisper-thin slice of purple potato and trout roe, then as the centerpiece for an eggs Benedict riff that uses a quail egg and potato puree in place of the more traditional elements. The best part? They taste as good as they look.